The present invention relates to a fluid flow control device, for automatically controlling the flow of a fluid to a fluid utilization device. The device is particularly useful for controlling the flow of water to a utilization device such as a washing machine or dishwasher, and is therefore described below with respect to this application.
Various types of fluid utilization devices, such as washing machines or dishwashers, frequently include a valve which is automatically actuated to terminate the flow when a predetermined quantity of the fluid has been received. However, such utilization devices generally do not include any arrangement for detecting other conditions that may occur, such as a leakage in or to the utilization device, or a burst pipe to or in the utilization device which may produce an excessive flow.
On the other hand many electrical systems have been developed for automatically terminating the flow of a fluid upon the occurrence of excessive leakage, and excessive rate of flow, and/or a preselected quantity of fluid supplied to the utilization device examples of such known electrical systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,416,560, 4,180,088, 4,249,565, 4,252,088, 4,518,955, 4,735,231 and 4,807,661.